technologies • Information workers are interrupted and have to switch between projects frequently. Once interrupted, resuming work is hard. • Average of 3 minutes on a task before switching tasks and an average of 12 minutes on a project before switching to another project (Gonzalez and Mark) 3
traverse the organizational structures of different information collections to refind information for a project • This process of Opening-Traversing-Closing different organizational structures is repeated each time they have to work on a project • People are interrupted and switch frequently between projects
collection of individual organizational units in different information collections (I call them information views for the project) • Other types of information - Tasks, Bookmarks, People • The Refinding Problem • Simple navigation to a project’s information in different collections. • A project is a set of tabs opened in the same window. • Project state is saved (Tabs are restored on opening a project) • Support for quick switching between projects. 8
claims into principles Determine the data to collect for each principle (logging, interviews and survey) • Field evaluation appropriate for PIM (Teevan, Kelly). Similar evaluation by Whittaker. • Approach and Evaluation based on existing claims in literature. • Data collection through logging, interviews and survey.
across different collections (or applications) and clustering together information for a project can be useful. • Often there is an overlapping set of folder structures, replicated over each information collection (email, files, calendar, etc.). • The Refinding Problem • Common multiple interruptions require an easy way to capture and restore state, and have a quick way to switch between projects. 12
spaces should support the flexibility of having a non-project space • A task management system should have the in the way property and should appear in an always visible spot of the working space. • A task management system should support informal priority lists, to ensure completion of near-term priority actions. • Capturing the context while creating a task makes it easier to complete the task later. 13
their work activity into projects? • What are the advantage of clustering together project information? • The Refinding Problem • Can information views make it easier to access a project’s information? • How often do people switch between projects? 14
interviews and survey • Deployed system for an average of 18.6 days (σ = 6.1) with logging. • Interviews at the midpoint of the study • Online survey at the end of study • Rich usage patterns of a few chosen users 15
30, 15 participants barely used the tool. They created < 2 projects (after filtering out projects name “something”, “test”, etc.) • I used data from the remaining 15 for logged usage data analysis • 4 participants volunteered for interviews from the pool of 15 that used the tool • 17 responses to the survey • People from industry (Xerox, Google) weren’t able to participate due to risk of exposing internal company information 17
Male 13 Occupation Number of participants Graduate 2 Undergraduate 14 Industry 1 18 Age Number of participants 20 2 21 5 22 4 23 1 24 1 32 1 57 1 Not specified 2
= 9, min = 2, σ = 1.8) 20 Type Examples Class names Algorithms, Usability, CS 3744 Specific class/research projects Crypto project, 3114 Project 3, German HW Non-school related Gardening, Bills, Tax Returns Broad categories Web Development, Shopping, Things to Check Daily General categories Life, General
100% Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Having all the project information on the Project Homepage helps me be more focused. The Project Homepage is an easy way to access information related to the project. I like to see emails in a project on the Project Homepage instead of opening Gmail n=17
participants set up one or two apps across all projects) • Participants gave a positive response to the simpler navigation enabled by information views in the survey and interviews. 23
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Shortcuts to apps on the Project Homepage make retrieval of project information easier. Getting automatically redirected to the project information in the apps (Gmail, Dropbox, etc.) makes it easy to access the information for a project n=17
have so many different folders, its nice to be able to just click it and it goes straight there, rather than having to find it” “Usually I get my email so quickly, because of my smartphone, that I don’t need that functionality (email and people). Because it (project homepage) doesn’t keep the emails there, it doesn’t do much for me...”
They made an average of 14 switches daily (max = 44.7 times daily, min = 2.3 times daily, σ = 12.3) • In the survey, participants indicated they found project switching useful for working on multiple tasks. • Some participants were confused about the relationship between projects and windows. 26
Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree The ability to quickly switch between projects makes it easier for me to work on multiple projects simultaneously Switching projects makes me lost, so I avoid switching unless it is absolutely necessary. With Contextinator, I am able to work on multiple projects simultaneously. n=17
just open a bunch of new tabs, and not necessarily look for an existing project first...I start googling something, and I have five tabs open. And then I realize, actually this should really go into the XX project...” 28 • A couple of participants didn’t know they wanted to switch to a new project until they had opened a few related tabs in the old project. • Need for flexible and easier transition between projects
of the users switched frequently between the non- project and project spaces. This matches with existing claim in literature that systems with project spaces should support non-project spaces. Order of Occurrence Switched to Non-Project Switched to Project New Project
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Suspending/Closing a project is easy because I don't have to worry about losing my current work. Resuming a project is easy as I am able to quickly gather where I left off. Reopening tabs for a project helps me resume working on a project. n=17
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Having the tasks visible on the Project Homepage helps me focus on the things I need to do on the project. When I open a project, the tasks remind me of what I need to do next on the project. I visit the Project Homepage to look at the tasks I need to do in a project. n=17
the tasks that I need in my Word document and look at it that way because it is easier to work on my homework...If I could view the tasks on a sidebar with whatever I am doing in the web browser, I don't have to click to the other tab and then click to the other thing...” 34
Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Being able to capture website URLs with a task makes it easier for me to complete the task later. I am able to postpone an action (task) until later by capturing the context of the task n=17
of projects. • Participants found clustering together project information to be very useful. • The Refinding Problem • Evidence of success of information views. Need better usability (reducing the friction in setting up). • Restoring project state and project switching were some of one of the most liked features. • Easier and more flexible transition between projects. 37
users. Flagging barely used; Mostly a wrong fit (participants didn’t have enough things to do). • Tasks were in the way but also need to be always visible. • Participants used a variety of subsets of features. Flexibility in the system to support different working styles. • 65% (11 out of 17) of the participants in the survey said they will use the tool for their daily work. 38
plugin- based approach. • Show snippets of information from cloud based apps on the project homepage. • Project Homepage as a personalized workspace for each project • Piling files in Dropbox • List of upcoming deadlines from the calendar 39
http://contextinator.cs.vt.edu/ 2,315 Users on the Chrome Web Store “Contextinator Organizes Your Web Browsing Into Manageable Projects” - Lifehacker “Contextinator: Manage Your Browsing Tasks Into Separate Easily Accessible Projects” - MakeUseOf “A sync via google drive would be very neat. So that Desktop machine and notebook/tablet and so on could use the same projects.” - Chrome Web Store “Using this to plan my vacation and I'm impressed. So far brilliantly laid out. Kind of hard to get the hang of at first. I wish things were draggable and droppable; Wish tasks could be edited after creating.” - Chrome Web Store “...helps take some of the stress off by allowing me to organize them all (tabs) and view it in a single window...” - Chrome Web Store “I'm quickly falling in love with #Contextinator! I've been looking for something like this for years!” - @Dahie “Really loving Contextinator - use it for when I research topics!” - @pixelbud “Contextinator - Projects within Chrome, with tabs, bookmarks, tasks, emails. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE?” - @mgamini
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